


Hearts like a drum, beating not breaking (Doctors and demons and all in between)

by BetterThanFirewhiskey



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: But Not Much, Coffee shop meeting, Don't Judge, F/M, Food Fight, I know it's lame, I picture season 4/5 Reid cause thats my fave Reid, It's been a WIP for over a year, Kissing in the Rain, Literally written for myself, Mentions of Suicide, Probably a little OOC, Self-Indulgent, Snowed In, Written because I love Spencer Reid too much, but its also after season 7 cause JJ is a profiler and it's after the Doyle storyline, have to share a bed for some reason, i've changed some of the canon things, if you think about it, it doesn't really fit, not too extreme i don't think, so many fanfiction cliches, so yeah kinda messy, some violence, someone else wanted to read it, thats the only reason I'm posting it, the timeline is kind of messy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 03:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4045078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterThanFirewhiskey/pseuds/BetterThanFirewhiskey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jena Parker transfers to the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico from New York, she doesn't think it's going to change her life. She's used to the long hours, stressful case load, and tragic victims, a killer is a killer, no matter what state. What she's not expecting is a certain messy haired doctor, and the family that comes along with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A coffee shop meeting, and the first case

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published CM fic, I've been writing it on/off for a year, after years of watching the show. It is incredibly self indulgent, just a warning, and I may not be the best writer ever so don't expect something special. It's already half way done, I'll be posting chapters every few weeks.

"Whatever you do or dream you can do – begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.  **-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe** "

 

 

“One extra-large double shot iced espresso.” The barista called and I jumped up to grab my drink. I headed over to grab a straw, and like clockwork, I wasn't looking where I was going – boom, coffee spilled all over myself and the person who I bumped into.

“I am so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going.” A voice said, and I shook my head.

“No, no it was me.” I replied, looking up and seeing a tall, slim young guy around my own age with messy hair and eyes that looked like he hadn't slept in days. He was attractive, there was no doubting that, but it was more than that, he was interesting, compelling.  
My blouse was completely soaked and I had yet to even register the chill from the drink.

“No really, it was my fault.” He said, grimacing at the stain spreading on my shirt. He grabbed some tissues from the bench next to us and began trying to awkwardly blot the liquid.

“Don't worry about it, I'll have to go home and change.” I said, not meaning to make him feel bad, although it was probably at least 90% my fault.

“Uh here – wear this to cover up on your way home.” He said, handing his blazer over. I protested but eventually pulled it on, crossing the front over my soaked shirt.

“How will I get it back to you?” I said, smiling at the nice guy I was probably never going to see again.

“I'm here all the time, the probability that we’ll bump into each other again is incredibly high – although hopefully we won't actually physically bump into each other again.” He said, “Well I've gotta get to work, I'll hopefully see you around. Sorry again.” He said, and with a wave he was out the door of the coffee shop.

I pulled the jacket around myself tightly, and headed back home to change, all the while thinking about soft brown eyes and smelling a slight musky scent.

“I'm Dr Spencer Reid – you don't have to call me doctor though.” He said to me days later when we bumped into each other for a third time, this time we ended up sitting together and no coffee was spilled.

“I'm Jena, just Jena, I don't have a title. It's nice to see you again.” I replied with a soft smile. It was nice to see him around again, it was starting to become a regular occurrence. I just hoped I'd have time to continue getting my coffee at the same place after I started my new job the next week.

Friday morning we met again.

Monday morning I skipped the coffee, and headed straight into my new job, the BAU headquarters staring at me imposingly. I went straight to where I was instructed, the unit chief's office, where I was met with an intimidating man with an intense stare.

“You must be Jena Parker. I'm Aaron Hotchner, you can call me Hotch. We've just got a case so we'll have to do the introductions on the way. I trust you have a go bag?” He said, and I nodded before he motioned for me to follow him out of the room.

We headed into a room with a large table in the middle and screen on the wall. There were five people already in the room, reading over the files littering the table. Before I sat down, Agent Hotchner started the introductions.

“Everyone, this is Special Agent Jena Parker, she joins us from New York.” He said, and the team looked up. “Agent Parker this is Derek Morgan,” He gestured to a tough looking, rather hot black guy, “Jennifer Jareau -”

“Call me JJ.” The pretty blonde woman said with a smile.

“Emily Prentiss,” Aaron continued, pointing to a striking dark haired woman, who would have looked intimidating if it wasn’t for the smile gracing her face, “David Rossi,” Everyone who's anyone knows David Rossi, “Our technical analyst Penelope Garcia,” An incredibly cheerful looking blonde woman grinned up at me, looking like she was bursting to talk to someone. “And I don't know where -”

“Sorry I'm late, I was – Jena?”

“You know each other?” Hotch asked, and I turned to see my new coffee friend rush flustered into the room.

“Kind of, we met over coffee.” I said, still in shock to see him there.

“To be more specific, I spilt her coffee on her a couple of weeks ago.” Spencer said with an awkward sort of laugh, and I saw a couple of the team laugh like it was completely unsurprising.

“Okay well now the introductions are over, we need to get started. We're expected in Los Angeles ASAP.” Hotch said, and Spencer and I took our seats around the table.

The technical analyst picked up a remote and six photos popped up on the screen, and she started explaining.

“There have been three home invasions in LA in the last two weeks. All three were in large, wealthy homes with no children. All couples were tied up and tortured with a knife before the carotid was slashed and they bled out. The houses were then robbed of almost everything valuable, and finally trashed before the unsub left. All this happened at night, and because of the affluent neighbourhoods being filled with large houses, the neighbours don't live close enough to hear anything.” She said, showing various photos of the crime scenes. “The Hayes family was the most recent home invasion, they were found yesterday morning by their dog walker. The LAPD is waiting for you to arrive.”

“Wheels up in twenty.”  
  
“So this was the new job you were talking about.” Spencer said as we settled on the jet, and I nodded.

“I had no idea you would be here, I mean I just moved here a couple of weeks ago, what are the chances that you're the only person I know here and you work where I'm about to start?”

“Zero point one three percent.”

“Oh of course you know the exact chances.” I said, but we didn't get to finish the conversation because we were called over by the team to go over the case and start profiling.

“So what do we know about victimology?” Hotch asked, reading over a file.

“The obvious is that all three of the couples were wealthy, all of the husbands had high profile jobs, as well as two of the wives.” Prentiss said.

“The wives were all very beautiful, and only the last wife didn't have a job – she was a trophy wife I guess you would call it.” JJ added.

“It looks like he definitely is attacking their wealth. I'd say he's lower-middle class at most.” Rossi said, and I nodded along, just watching to see how the team worked.

“That means the geographic profile won’t work.” Spencer said, looking down at the file in front of him. “The three couples all lived in affluent neighbourhoods, but it’s likely the unsub won’t live near them.”

“The time between murders has shortened, so he'll most likely strike in the next week. We need to get working quickly, Prentiss and Morgan, you two go to the latest crime scene, a detective will be waiting for you there, Dave and I will go straight to the police station to set up, and JJ, Reid, and Parker you go to the ME and check out the victims.” Hotch said, and I took it as a dismissal since everyone headed back to the various seats on the jet, so I sat myself opposite Spencer, striking up another conversation.  
  
“Most of these stab wounds were made anti-mortem, but after slashing the carotid, there were a number of stab wounds made post mortem.” The medical examiner said as we looked over the victim. It had taken me a long time working at the New York field office to get used to seeing dead bodies.

“So this is extreme over kill then.” JJ said.

“Were there any signs of sexual assault?” I asked, and the ME shook her head.

“I couldn't find anything of that sort on any of the victims.”

“So the stabbing is in place of sex then.” Spencer said, thinking out loud. We thanked the ME and headed out to the police station to let everyone know what we found.

“So we need to dig into victimology, see what each couple had in common, find out if there was any enemies, any cross over at all.” Hotch said once we filled everyone in. Prentiss and Morgan were back from the crime scene, and they said it was a complete mess, almost everything was broken, and there was obviously a lot missing.  
  
“Okay crime fighters, I've been digging and digging into the lives of the Hayes, Johnson, and Walters families, and I am finding nada, zip, zilch. No overlap what so ever, none of the same places, not even at different times. I will keep digging but I fear the worst.” Garcia was on speaker as we sat in a break room at the police department, pouring over the case the next afternoon.

“Okay, so we know that there was no forced entry, and by the looks of the scenes, he was probably waiting for them when they got home. That means he probably had been to the houses beforehand.” Morgan said, “Baby girl, we need you to look for any overlapping service workers, employees, something that would give them access to each house.”

“I'm on it sweetness, I'll hit you back when I find something. PG out.” There was a click as Garcia hung up, leaving us to ponder the case on our own.

“All of the victims have their own connections, dog walkers, pool cleaners, house cleaners, friends, family, personal trainers, doctors. It’s going to be someone who blends in, someone they wouldn’t notice.” Emily noted, and Hotch nodded.

“We’re not going to get anywhere hungry, let's stop and get some dinner, and see what Garcia comes up with.” Hotch said, and we all headed out to the nearest Chinese restaurant.

“I see you still can't use chopsticks.” JJ said laughing as Spencer tried and failed to eat his meal.

“Here.” I said, reaching over next to him and adjusting the chopsticks in his hand to make them simpler to use. He tested it out and it worked much easier.

“Hey, that's not too bad now, thanks.” He said, grinning triumphantly as he was able to pick up his noodles properly.

“My best friend in high school was Japanese, it was how she taught me to use them.” I replied, laughing at how proud he was of finally being able to use them.

“So Jena, where are you from?” Morgan asked me.

“You want the life story? Well I grew up along the Cali coast, studied at Harvard, went straight to training, then ended up at the NY office, and now I'm here.” I said with a smile.

“What did you study at Harvard?” Hotch asked.

“Most people think I’m crazy, I’ve got a joint PhD in Psychology and JD in criminal law, and a PhD in Sociology and I'm currently finishing up a linguistics degree. I work fast.”

“No wonder you get along so well with our dear Dr Reid here.” Prentiss said, and I looked over at Reid, who was staring at me with a look on his face that I couldn't place. Was it awe?

“Dr Jena Parker, it has a nice ring to it.” Spencer said with a cute little awkward grin. “How old were you when you graduated high school?”

“Oh um, I was about fifteen?” I said, thinking back to my childhood. I never really talked about it because I always felt like people thought it was weird I was so young at Harvard, and that I had so many degrees. That’s what you get when you’d rather focus on work than the rest of your life.

“Ha! I graduated when I was twelve.” Spencer said, and it instantly made me feel better about my strange teenage years. Even though the whole team was there, it felt like it was just me and Spencer comparing genius stories.

“Why is it that I feel even more inadequate now?” Prentiss said, and everyone else around the table nodded in agreement. I looked back over at Spencer, and winked, at which he blushed a furious shade of red.

“Yes, but I'm sure you have a social life.” I said, and it was her turn to laugh.

“I'm pretty sure the only one of us with a life outside of the team is JJ, and maybe Morgan.” This seemed to be a general consensus between the team. They were all so close with each other, such a family, and I already knew they would all be very important to me.

We were just finishing up when Morgan's phone rang. There was a short conversation before he hung up, and I hoped it was good news.

It was.

“So I was cross referencing all of the services each of the families use, and there was one overlap, which didn't come up in the initial search because none of the families used it regularly, or around the same time.” Garcia said on speaker once we were back in our room at the station.

“What the service baby girl, come on don't leave us hanging.” Morgan said, and I could hear a chuckle on the other end.

“A cleaning company by the name of 'Mrs Higgins Cleans', but that was as far as I could get since they don't have records online, but I figure that's a start right? I'll keep digging though.” There was a click as she hung up.

“So we'll pay Mrs Higgins a visit tomorrow morning and see if any of her workers overlapped the families. I'm going to stay here and keep working but feel free to head back to the hotel.” Hotch said, and we split in two, Rossi and JJ headed back to the hotel, and the rest of us stayed behind.

I stayed mostly since it was my first case, and I wanted to prove that I could do what was needed. Of course, that didn't exactly work out so well for me.

A couple hours later I was sat cross legged on the couch staring at the evidence board, but every so often my eyes would droop. Spencer sat down next to me, staring at a folder, trying to get something from the evidence.

“Come here.” I said to him, gesturing for him to move over closer to me. He looked very confused, but shuffled closer nonetheless. Slowly, I rested my head on his shoulder, letting my eyes close completely.

Unfortunately, I was woken up just half an hour later when Prentiss and Morgan walked back into the room.

“Awww, aren't they cute?” Prentiss cooed, and I opened my eyes groggily, wincing at the bright light of the room. Spencer had fallen asleep on me too, and as I pulled away and sat up straight, he woke with a yawn.

“Hey lover boy, you looked pretty relaxed there.” Morgan said with a wink, and Spencer blushed profusely, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat up.

“I'm awake, I swear.” I said, but it was followed by a huge yawn, completely voiding the comment.

“Reid, Parker, go back to the hotel and get some rest, we'll be able to keep going in the morning.” Hotch said, a rare smile gracing his lips before turning back to the evidence board. The man must never sleep.

Reid and I gathered our things and headed out to the SUVs, climbing inside one after a brief argument about who was driving to the hotel.

“You haven't seen it yet, but I'm telling you, I'm a fantastic driver.” I said with a pout as I sat in the passenger seat.

“Well I hardly ever get to drive with everyone else, so this was my only shot.” He said with a grin, and I couldn't help but smile back.

“I've been on holiday for three weeks, I'd forgotten what it's like to be working so hard and so late.” I said, yawning yet again to prove my point.

“Three weeks of holiday, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.”

“I didn't know what to do with myself, I only took the vacation time because I was moving departments, I spent the first week packing up my life in New York, the second week moving everything here, and the third week drinking coffee with you.”

We headed up to the rooms in the hotel, which just happened to be next door to each other, and said goodnight, despite it being just passed one in the morning.

“Goodnight Doctor.” I said with a tired grin, kissing him lightly on the cheek. I’d spent a couple of semesters in France, and it was a habit easily picked up, but that never went away. I could tell it was definitely not something he was used to, he blushed for what had to be the billionth time that day, stuttering out a goodnight.


	2. An early start and an overheard conversation

"“That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it. ―  **George Carlin** "

 

 

I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted, because the next morning I was woken at six thirty am by a loud knock on my hotel door. I pulled on a hoodie over my very short sleep wear, and opened the door to see Prentiss and Spencer.  
“I've barely had five hours of sleep, what is it?” I asked, running a hand through my hair, trying to tame it a little, aware that I was definitely not looking my best.

“There's been another murder, we're on our way there now.” Prentiss said, and I groaned.

“Okay, I'll come with you guys. Just let me get dressed.”

“We'll meet you at the car.”

I changed into a pair of dark jeans, and a white blouse, pulling on a coat over top since the early morning weather was more than a little crisp, and a pair of boots. I tried my best to untangle the mess that was my hair, before giving up and pulling it into a ponytail, and quickly applied some make up. Finally, I headed to meet the others in the parking garage.

“How is it that it's not even seven, we were up at all crazy hours, and you look perfect?” I asked Prentiss as we climbed into the SUV, Spencer and I getting in the back seat.

She laughed loudly, “I don't know what you're talking about, but thanks.”

“I think you look nice.” Spencer said so quietly I wasn't even sure I heard him. I just looked over and gave him a smile.  
  
“So what have we got here?” Prentiss asked the officer on the scene when we arrived. Even from outside we could see through the large windows that the house was trashed too.

“Mail man noticed something was wrong when he saw the door ajar. The patrols were increased in all of these areas so we managed to get here pretty quickly. He's waiting over there for you to talk to.” He said, pointing over to where a pretty traumatised looking young guy sat slumped over on the front steps. “Victims’ names are Franklin and Amelia Hawthorne. Victor Hawthorne was a lawyer, and Amelia was a real estate agent.”

We venture inside the house, Prentiss stopping to interview the mail man while Spencer and I continued into the house.

“He took as much as he could carry, and then destroyed everything else.” I said, looking through the bedroom where the bodies had been found. The hinges were broken on the wife’s jewellery box, and it had been cleaned out. The bed covers were pulled back, but the bed hadn’t been slept in.

“The husband was found in only a towel, he ambushed them while they were getting ready for bed.” Spencer commented, coming in from the ensuites.

“Their wardrobe is wrecked.” I said, surveying the mess of a walk in wardrobe. There were slashes in both sides, designer dressed were ripped, and tailored suits were sliced to bits. “This guy definitely hates their wealth. What he couldn’t steal, he destroyed.”

  
After reviewing over the scene that was oh so terrible, we made our way back to the station to catch the rest of the team up, and give the profile.

“The unsub we’re looking for is a white male in his late twenties, early thirties.” Hotch started.

“He’s what we would call a disorganised killer, but he doesn’t leave any prints or DNA behind, so he knows enough to wear gloves.” Prentiss added.

“He’s attacking their wealth, so we believe he’s lower middle class at the most, and most likely works a job where he has to be around wealthier people than himself, making his jealousy grow.” I said.

“He’s an angry guy.” Morgan said after, “After killing his victims, he went through the homes and destroyed everything that he couldn’t steal. His anger has probably been stewing for a while, and there’s a good chance someone has noticed.”

“When an unsub is caught, you often hear their friends, family, or neighbours talk about how ‘they never expected it from them’ or ‘they couldn’t believe that they could do something like that’.” Spencer said. “This will not be the case with this unsub.”

“He doesn’t use a ruse to get inside, all the victims’ front doors were forced open, and none of the neighbours were close enough to hear anything, so we need to get the word out to keep an eye on their neighbourhood for any strange cars, or people snooping around.” JJ said.

“The time between murders is escalating, so we need to get ahead of this guy.” Rossi finished, and the room dispersed to get to work.

On my way back from getting coffee, I heard Garcia on the phone back in the team room, but before I could enter, I heard them start talking about me, so I just stood outside to listen for a bit.

“Baby girl, you're on speaker with Reid, JJ, and Rossi so behave.” Morgan said.

“So how's the new girl going? Is she nice?” I heard Garcia ask, which was when I stopped to listen.

“She is nice.” Spencer said, and I could almost hear him blushing.

“What's that I hear in your voice? You think she's pretty don't you?” Garcia said, and I could hear Morgan chuckling.

“You hit the nail on the head there mama, our boy here has a little soft spot for the newest member of the team. They were getting very cosy last night, and what's this I hear about her having a shirt of yours?”

“What? I want to hear everything when you get back. At least you're not the youngest on the team anymore Reid."

"What?"

"Jena's only 27, but anyway I can feel your smouldering get-back-to-the-case stares from here. Now I cross referenced the latest victims lives with the previous victims and would you look at that, they also used Mrs Higgins cleans, about two years ago.”

I took that as my cue to walk in, my coffee now lukewarm from standing outside the door.  
Minutes later Hotch followed, taking Prentiss and Morgan to go question at the cleaning company, while the rest of us kept working at the station.

“We just gave the profile to Mrs Higgins, and she said that there's no one who matches it working for her, but she sent all her records to Garcia anyway.” Hotch said on speaker, and the phone beeped, indicating a call on the other line. JJ patched Garcia through, and she launched straight into her tale.

“Okay, so I looked through all of the employment records and first of all none of her employees have criminal records, and then I went through to see if any of the employees worked in the victims homes, and none of the homes were cleaned by the same person at the same time, however, there was one employee who has cleaned all of the victims homes, just at different times, a Jennifer Atkins.”

“What's her story?” Prentiss asked.

“Well I'm glad you asked that, because she is what looks like the sweetest old lady ever, no record or anything. But I thought, since this was the only connection between the victims, I would keep digging, and I found a doozy. She has one son, Kevin Atkins, who's got a rap sheet crazy long. Aggravated assault, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon – it just keeps going and going.”

“Great, can you -”

“Send you his photo and address? Already at your phone.”

“Thanks Garcia.”

“Be safe, my loves.” She replied, before hanging up.  
  
Minutes later we were pulling up at a rundown apartment building, kitted out in our bullet proof vests. Unfortunately his apartment was empty, and we could gather nothing from it.

“Hey mama I need a list of every household that Jennifer Atkins cleaned, exclude families with children.” Morgan said, talking to Garcia on speaker.

“Okay you got six couples on that list, four of which are the previous victims.” She gave the two addresses and we split up, Hotch, JJ, Morgan went to one, along with the officer in charge of the case, and Prentiss, Rossi, Spencer, and I went to the other.

Not long after we arrived at our address, Rossi got a call from Hotch that their couple was safe at home, which meant our couple was most likely in trouble. Most of the lights were off inside, except what had to be their bedroom light, but we couldn't be sure until we got up there.

We managed to get inside fine, but as soon as we did, there were audible screams from upstairs. Hopefully, the unsub was just getting started, and things weren't too bad.

We slowly made our way through the house, checking out each room until we got to the bedroom. We slowly ventured in, I gestured that I was going to go through the bathroom, which led into the bedroom through a side door. What I was met with when I looked into the bedroom was a terrible sight.

The unsub's back was to me, so I was facing the couple who were separately tied up, they were both covered in defensive wounds as well as multiple slices through their clothing.

“You think you're better than everyone else, just because you have money! Well guess what?! You bleed just like everyone else. How does your money help you now?!” Kevin Atkins was raving, holding his knife menacingly.

“Kevin Atkins, put the knife down!” Rossi shouted, jumping into the room followed by Prentiss and Reid. He jumped, spinning the wife's chair around and holding a knife to her throat.

“No! They have too much, they need to be taught a lesson!” He shouted, and just as he was about to draw the knife straight across her throat, I pulled the trigger of my gun, shooting him straight through in the head.

“No, I'm fine, go to my wife!” The husband was shouting, nodding towards his wife, who was openly sobbing, pulling at her restraints. We soon had them untied, and they were clinging to each other like their lives depended on it.

“There's an ambulance waiting outside, you're both hurt and you need to go to the hospital.” Prentiss said, trying to lead the couple downstairs.

“I'm not leaving her!” The husband said, and I shook my head.

“Don't worry, you can ride in the ambulance together, no one is going to separate you.” I said, and we led them outside. We met the rest of the team outside by the cars.

“You okay?” Spencer said, approaching me as I was sat on one of the seats of the SUV with the door open.  
“Yeah, I just – it never gets easier, does it? Killing somebody, no matter what they've done.” I said, staring down at the gun on my belt.

“I don't think so. What I do is just think about the people I saved, I think it helps.”

That's what I tried to think about on the plane ride home, and it did help a bit.

“Hey, we should go out tonight. Celebrate Jena's first case.” JJ said, and Morgan nodded.

“I'm in.”

“You all know I've got nothing else to do but hang out with Sergio.” Prentiss said.

“Jack's at a friends for the night and Beth's in town so we'll come out for a bit.” That was Hotch.

“I’ve got no other plans, so I’m in.” Spencer said.

“I have a dinner date with Carolyn when we get back, sorry.” Rossi said, and Prentiss laughed.

“Now that's ex-wife number one, right?” She said with a cheeky grin, and he rolled his eyes.

“Yes, Carolyn is lucky number one.”

“Well I'm in too, I could use a drink.” I said, smiling around at everyone. One case and I already felt like part of the team.

“There's a bar just down from here that we all go to regularly.” JJ said, once we got to the office, dropping everything we needed in, and picking up Garcia.

“We'll meet you there.” The guys said, after us girls said we wanted to change first. We grabbed our bags, heading to the bathrooms.

I had to admit, it was kind of nice. I never really had too many female friends, or friends of any sort, since my school years were so strange. I told them this, and I was met with caring smiles.

“Well we're not just friends, we're family.” Garcia said, throwing an arm around my shoulder.  
I changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a fitted black shirt, pulling on a pair of ankle boots, and Spencer's jacket over top.

“Ooh those are nice.” JJ said, gesturing to my boots, and I smiled in thanks. “That's reminding me, I need to go shoe shopping at some point.”

“I second that, we should go this weekend if we're not on a case.” Prentiss said, and Garcia nodded along, before looking at me, and it took me a while to realise they were wanting to know if I wanted to go too.

“That would be nice, I cleaned out a lot of my wardrobe before I moved here and I think I need to fill it up again.”

“It's a date then.” Garcia said, “Now let's get going and catch up with our boys.”  
  
The guys were just getting drinks when we arrived, and Hotch was sitting with a very pretty woman who I assumed was Beth.

“Hey, what do you guys want?” Morgan asked from the bar, I asked for a glass of red wine, before sitting at the table next to Reid.

“So you guys come here often then?” I asked him, before laughing. “Oh god, I'm sorry, that sounded like a really bad pick up line.”

“It did a little bit.” He said with a cute laugh, “Yeah, we usually go out together after cases if we're not too tired. You look nice by the way, my jacket looks good on you.”

“I knew that looked familiar.” Morgan said, placing the drinks down on the table. “Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go get my groove on.” He said, heading over to a group of women openly staring at him from the small dance floor area.

“I have never witnessed anyone with that level of confidence before.” I said, and Garcia looked over from where she was staring at Morgan's 'smooth dancing'.

“It's one of his many talents.” She said. I was very confused by their strange relationship, but each to its own I guess.

“You must be the new addition to the team. I'm Beth.” Beth said to me with a smile. It was strange to see Hotch to happy and relaxed, to be honest.

“I'm Jena, it's nice to meet you. I must say, it's nice to see that Hotch isn't always so serious.” I said teasingly, and she gave a soft laugh.

“Well it's good to see the boys balanced out now.” She said, and Prentiss nodded hard in agreement, coming over with JJ after slamming a couple of guys at darts in the corner.

“I second that.” Prentiss said with a grin towards me. These people were so welcoming, it was crazy.

“Hey, what’s the likelihood that we'll get called onto a case next weekend?” I asked the table.

“Well it all depends really, why?” Hotch said, and I blushed slightly, trying to form my answer.

“I have a – thing in New York that I've had tickets for, for ages, and I – just yeah I have a thing.” I said awkwardly.

There was a sort of strangled cough thing from my right. “You're going to comic con?” Spencer asked, shocked.

“Er – yeah, I know it's really lame and geeky but I love it.” I said, and I didn't miss the look Hotch and Prentiss both gave Spencer.

“What?” I asked, turning to Spencer too.

“I was actually planning to go to that too, if we weren't on a case.” He said, and I grinned widely.

“Oh thank god, I thought you were all going to think I was some giant nerd or something. You wanna go with me? I was planning on maybe dressing up but I hadn't decided on a costume yet.” I said, and he nodded eagerly.

“Sure, same actually. Last year Garcia and I went to a Dr Who convention, and we dressed up as the eleventh and the fourth doctors.” He said, and an image popped in my head of Spencer with the fourth doctor's crazy hair.

“Oh my, I bet that was brilliant. The Avengers just came out a last month, so I'm considering going as someone from that.”

“I might go as Spiderman, he's my favourite Marvel superhero.”

“Really, Spiderman? What about Captain America? Black Widow? Magneto – if we're counting mutants?”

By now everyone else at the table had zoomed out of our insanely geeky discussion, and so we were left to our own devices, and ended up having a very heated discussion about superheroes, and superhero movies.


	3. Con interrupted, and a house of horrors

“There are moments when even to the sober eye of reason, the world of our sad humanity may assume the semblance of Hell. ―  **Edgar Allan Poe"**

 

 

“What do you think?” Garcia – Penelope asked. I'd been trying to remember to call the team by their first names out of work. Luckily we'd not been put on a case for the rest of the week, and so the girly shopping date was intact, and Penelope was showing us a dress she was considering.

“Well, it's not my style, but it is very you.” I said, and the other two girls nodded. The dress was a very bright blue, and she’d already purchased a pair of platform heels that would match it perfectly.

From what I had gathered from the small amount of time hanging out with them, it wasn’t much the other girl’s styles either. JJ's style was simple, very pretty and put together, perfect for her flawless looks, Emily's style was black everything. Penelope on the opposite, was very bright and happy, something the others told me that they were thankful for everyday with their job. My style, on the other hand, was confused. I loved dresses and skirts and nice blouses, but also jeans and plain shirts. I liked to think that my shoulder gun holster I wore when I was at work made me look a little more badass. One thing we all had in common though was an insane love for shoes.

“I'm going to need a bigger wardrobe soon.” Emily said later as we sat at a café for lunch.

“I've got heaps of space in my new apartment, it's almost like it's daring me to fill with shopping.” I replied, before remembering that I wanted to do something.

“Hey Penelope?” I asked, “Do you by any chance, if we're free next weekend, want to come to NY comic con with me and Spence?”

“I would love to, my sweet.” She said, before pausing slightly. “But as much as I would love being you guys’ third wheel, I've already made plans to go with Kevin.”

“Third wheel? I don't even know what you're talking about.” I said, and the three of them rolled their eyes.

“Yeah, sure you don't. That boy is smitten with you, and I'd bet a lot of money that you're quite taken with the good Doctor too.” Emily said, and I tried and failed to formulate a reply. I was secretly a little pleased with the little flutter in my stomach when she said he was smitten with me.

“Anyway,” I said forcefully, “Why don't you two come with us, it'll be fun. To be honest I usually just go by myself.”

“If you're sure you don't mind us imposing on your not-a-date-but-totally-a-date, then sure. I'll put some plane tickets on hold with the hope that we're not on a case.” Penelope said, and I couldn't help but grin. It was true, the past couple of years I'd gone to the con on my own, and it was going to be nice going with friends.  
Before we could get into the discussion of costumes, JJ and Emily steered the conversation off into another subject, and after we'd eaten, we went back to our shopping.  
  
We had a simple cut and dry case that next week, a case in Kansas City of a generic 'street cleaner' unsub, who was abducting and killing prostitutes and homeless people. Luckily we were back just that Friday night, perfect timing to catch our plane to New York.

“We'll see you guys next week.” I said to the rest of the team as Spencer and I headed out to my car, since I decided I was the one to drive us to the airport to meet Penelope and Kevin, who were already there. We had to stop at both of our apartments on the way, to pick up our things, but we got to the airport in time.

The one hour flight was over before I knew it, and we took a cab to our hotel. We'd only booked two rooms, and since Penelope and Kevin were obviously sharing a room, Spence and I had to share.

“Well I'm beat, so I'm having an early night. I'll see you guys in the morning.” I said to the couple as we parted ways into our rooms.

“I can sleep on the couch if you want?” Spencer said, looking at the large only bed in the bedroom.

“Don't be ridiculous.” I replied, “I don't mind sharing for a couple of nights. Unless you mind sharing with me of course.”

“No, its fine I just wasn't sure.” He said, and I headed into the bathroom to change into my pyjamas – a pair of sleep shorts and a large plain t-shirt.

“Here, if it makes you feel any better -” I grabbed some couch cushions, and placed them down the middle of the bed. I wasn’t sure if he was bothered to share with me, or if he was trying to be a gentleman, but I simply turned on my side, trying to fall asleep quickly.  
  
In the morning I woke up strangely warm, and the reason why was apparent very suddenly. Somewhere through the night, Spence and I had moved towards each other in the bed, and were cuddled up together with his arm around my waist, the couch cushions discarded on the floor. There was no denying the fact that I wanted to lay like this all day, but we had to get up to line up for the con.

“Hey sleepy head.” I said, rolling away from him. He yawned loudly as he woke up. His bedhead was incredibly endearing.

“Good morning.” He said, sitting up in the bed. “Shall we get ready then?”

I had decided on going as Black Widow, so during the week I purchased a replica of the costume Scarlett Johansson wore in the Avengers. Spencer had gotten a Spiderman costume for himself.

“You look good.” He said to me as I came out from the bathroom fully dressed. I gave a little twirl with a laugh.

“You look good too, let's go grab Penelope and Kevin, and go have a day of being free to be geeky.”

Penelope and Kevin had jumped at our idea of going as Marvel characters, and Kevin was dressed as Iron Man, while Penelope was dressed as a female Captain America. It was exciting.

We were half way into the second day when the dreaded call came in. I was lining up to get into a panel on women in pop culture, when my phone rang in my bag.

“Hey, you're going to hate me for this but we've got a case. Luckily, it's in New York so you're already there. Hotch wants you and Spence to head straight over to the crime scene, he'll meet you there, I text you the coordinates. Tell Garcia to head to the police department, we're bringing everything she needs.” JJ said, and I sighed, leaving to go find the others.

“We've got a case.” I said, plunking myself down in the empty seat at the table where they were eating lunch.  
Garcia looked down at the program with sad eyes before getting a pen and paper from her bag, and began listing things down.

“What are you doing?” Spencer asked, and she answered without looking up from where she was scribbling furiously.

“I'm making a list of everything I want Kevin to see and get for me, since he doesn't have to leave.”  
The three of us headed back to the hotel to get changed, leaving Kevin with a large list, before we went over to wait for the rest of the team.

“We weren't expecting you for another hour.” The detective said, approaching us as we arrived at the address that JJ sent. “We haven't had anyone in to review the bones yet, I was around the corner when the call came in. I called the BAU as soon as I realised what we had.

“SSA Jena Parker, this is Dr Spencer Reid.” I said, holding my hand out.

“Detective Katherine Johns, I'm the lead detective on this case.”

“We were already in the city, that's why we're here before the rest of the team.” I said, as she led us to where the CSI was combing the scene. All of the inner walls of the house were torn down, and a whole lot of bones laid out on the floor.

“New couple, the Hawkes, just moved in a week ago and started renovating today, when they began to tear down the dining room wall, they found a body wrapped in plastic.” Detective Johns said, gesturing to the bodies at various stages of decomposition. “Fifteen so far but we don’t know how much more – ah, here’s the forensic team.”

“The most recent victim is a male in his forties to fifties, killed about two weeks ago” One of the techs said, looking over the least deteriorated bodies.

“He was the first one found.” The detective interrupted. “The wall he was in was only just rebuilt. It wasn’t even finished properly.”

“These seven are Caucasian females, post adolescents, I'd say about nineteen/twenty years old, can't be too sure yet how long they were dead, about ten to fifteen years.” One of the forensic technicians said so that we knew approximately what we were dealing with, while the others techs went over the bones properly. “Those two are Asian males, those two Asian females, and all four about late forties. And these -” I gasped a little, covering my mouth with my hands. “These four are three males and one female, all Asian, and all between ages three and seven. They look to have all been dead for the same amount of time, longer than the seven girls, I'd say they were possibly two families. I’d put the date of death at about twenty years ago.”

“We've got some more bones over here!” One of the techs shouted, and I headed over to have a look.

“Two post pubescent adolescences, one male, and one female.” The tech told me, “I'd put date of death at five years ago at the earliest.”  
  
“So what have we got?” Hotch asked as the rest of the team arrived.

“Eighteen bodies, grouped in various stages of decomposition. All hidden in the walls of the house.” I answered, showing them the different bodies.

“This brings house of horrors to a whole different level.” Prentiss said, looking around.

“The house was just bought by the Hawke family, and they were starting renovations when they found the first body.” Detective Johns told the team.

“Who owned it before them?” Hotch asked her.

“It’s been owned by the city for the past ten years, and it’s been empty for that time, or so we thought. The walls have been rebuilt by whoever killed them, without anyone knowing.”

“How is that possible?” JJ asked.

“There’s not been anyone checking on the house. It’s got no running water or electricity, so I guess they figured it would be fine leaving it on its own. The council has enough to deal with.”

“I’d hazard a guess and say that the unsub has history with the building. Have we had any identification of the victims? We need to start working victimology as soon as possible.” Hotch said to us.

“Nothing so far, we’ve only run the dental records just now, and we ran the prints of the latest victim.”

“Our analyst will get any hits when they come in.” Hotch said, before giving us instructions. “Reid and JJ, I want you to go back to the precinct and start working victimology as soon as soon as any identifications come in. Dave and Prentiss, you stay here with me, we’ll talk to the owners of the house, and Parker and Morgan, I need you to find the housing agent in charge of this area. We need to find out as much as we can about the history of the house.” I nodded, and followed Morgan out to one of the SUVs.

“So Angel, I hear you and my boy shared a bed at the hotel.” Derek said as we pulled out. I sighed inwardly. Damn Penelope.

“Angel?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the nickname.

“I thought it fit. So, sharing the bed?”

“We only booked two rooms, so yeah, we shared.” I said nonchalantly. “I wasn’t going to let him sleep on the floor.”

“Mmhmm.” Was all he said, raising an eyebrow and looking at me with a side glance. I grabbed my phone out and called Garcia.

“Tech kitten at your service, I live to please.”

“Hey Garcia, I need you to look up the housing agent in charge of a house.” I said, giving her the address.

It didn’t take her long to find it, and she gave us the name of the woman in charge, and address of her office.

“So, glad to be back in New York so soon after leaving?” Morgan asked as we navigated the New York traffic I was not sorry to leave behind.

“Honestly, not really.” I laughed. “It’s not a bad city, but it can get old fast. My old apartment actually isn’t far from where we are now.”

“Is that why you transferred? Because you got sick of the city?”

“Partly. I came across the job opening at the BAU, and I thought I could do the best I could here. I knew I liked Virginia from when I was at the academy.”

He chuckled. “Well you certainly fit right in Angel.” The nickname didn’t bother me, in fact, it made me feel more like a team. In the short time that I’d been with them, Morgan had referred to both Garcia and Spencer by different nicknames.

“I’m Agent Morgan, this is Agent Parker, we’re with the FBI.” Morgan said to the receptionist when we got to the city office. “We need to speak to Ellen Burns.”

“I can show you to her office.” She led us down a corridor, knocking on a door before peaking her head inside.

“Ms Burns, there are two FBI agents here to see you.”

“Send them in.”

We were met with a middle aged woman, who was looking at us questioningly.

“What can I do for you agents?”

“You were in charge of a house in Smithtown that was recently sold to a Mr and Mrs Hawke?” I asked, and she nodded.

“Yes, the sale was finalised two weeks ago.” She said, pulling out a folder.

“This morning when they started their renovations, there were bodies discovered in the walls of the house.” I said, and she gasped, covering her mouth.

“We need to know everything about the house that you can tell us.” Morgan said, and she nodded. “Who were the last tenants of the house?”

“Give me a second.” She said, looking through the folder. “The last people who lived there before it became property of the state was a group of college students. One of the girl’s mothers owned it I think. Yes, Elizabeth Fuller.”

I looked at Morgan. “The group of bodies, all girls around the age of eighteen.” I said, grabbing out my phone and excusing myself.

“Hey Garcia, I need you to look up a woman named Elizabeth Fuller, she was the previous owner of the house.”

“On it. Uh Elizabeth Fuller bought the house in 2003 from Adam Ashley, the previous owner. She listed the tenants as her daughter, Rebecca Fuller, and what I’m assuming is six of her friends. Rebecca and her mother were from North Carolina, along with four of the other girls. Oh lordy look at this – the girls in the house all went missing in their junior year at NYU, but their bodies were never found. I think you just found some of our victims. I’ll call Hotch.”

I headed back inside the office, where Morgan was still talking to Ellen.

“What did she find?”

“Elizabeth Fuller’s daughter, and her six roommates went missing their junior year at NYU. She’s catching up Hotch now.”

“Oh my god.” Ellen said, horror evident on her face.

“Ma’am, we need to know what you know about the man she bought it off, Adam Ashley.” I said, and she nodded, searching through the folder again.

“He never lived in the house, but it was suspected that he rented it out cash only to illegal immigrants. It was never investigated though.”

“And what can you tell us about the house once it was handed to you? Were there any break in’s? Anything like that?” Morgan asked, and she shook her head.

“If there was, it wasn’t reported. The houses surrounding it have never reported any trouble at all. I’m sorry I couldn’t be any more help.”

“That’s fine Ma’am, thank you for your help.” We shook her hand and headed out.

“Garcia managed to match the seven teenage girls, what else did you find?” Hotch asked as we arrived at the precinct. It was getting dark, and everyone was bound to be hungry, so we’d picked up some Chinese take-out on our way in. I was starting to see that it was what they ate most together. There was an abundance of Chinese restaurants pretty much everywhere, so it wasn’t a surprise.

“The previous owner, Adam Ashley, was suspected of letting the house to illegal immigrants, but it was never pursued, so there won’t be any paper trail of who lived there before the female victims.” I said, taking a seat between Prentiss and Spencer and grabbing one of the Chinese containers.

“Deductively, we can assume that the first victims were probably two families of illegal immigrants.” Spence said, before grabbing his own dinner.

“That means that we’re not likely to find a DNA match. Ellen Burns, the woman we went to see, didn’t have any records before Ashley owned the house.” I said, “She said the house was abandoned for a couple of years, and then Ashley acquired it somehow. Garcia’s getting all she can on the history of the house.”

“We need to focus on the latest victims. Garcia hasn’t got a match on the newest victim, but the two before him have been identified as William Julien, 18, and Veronica Royce, 17. They went missing four years ago while on a date.” Hotch said, explaining to me and Morgan what they’d found while we were away.

“According to the report that the NYPD has on file, their parents thought they ran away together at first, but after a week without hearing from them at all, missing persons reports were filed.” Prentiss said.

“Tomorrow, Prentiss, you and Rossi go and talk to William Julien’s parents. JJ, Veronica Royce’s mother is coming down to the station, and Morgan and Parker, you two can take the previous owner of the house, Elizabeth Fuller.” Hotch ordered, and I nodded.

“So much for our weekend off at Comic Con.” I said to Spencer once the group dissolved into separate conversations. "Just when we were having fun."

“You know, statistically a case doesn't come in with any more frequency if you're having a good time than if you aren't. It's a trick of the mind.” He replied, and I rolled my eyes.

“It doesn’t make it suck any less though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will start getting longer soon, I have gaps in what I've already written, so I'm just filling them in at the moment. Also, I am not american, so there is a chance I will probably get things wrong, especially things like 'mom'.


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